Mitt wept when church ended discrimination

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that he wept with relief when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormon church, announced a 1978 revelation that the priesthood would no longer be denied to persons of African descent.

Romney’s eyes appeared to fill with tears as he discussed the emotional subject during a high-stakes appearance that he handled with no major blunders.

“I was anxious to see a change in my church,” said the Republican presidential candidate, appearing for the full hour just two weeks ahead of the crucial Iowa caucuses.

“I can remember when I heard about the change being made. I was driving home from — I think it was law school, but I was driving home — going through the Fresh Pond rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I heard it on the radio and I pulled over and literally wept.

“Even to this day, it’s emotional,” Romney went on.

“And so it’s very deep and fundamental in my life and my most core beliefs that all people are children of God. My faith has always told me that. My faith has also always told me that in the eyes of God, every individual was merited the fullest degree of happiness in the hereafter and I had no question that African Americans and blacks generally would have every right and every benefit in the hereafter that anyone else had and that God is no respecter of persons.”

Moderator Tim Russert asked if “it was wrong for your faith to exclude them for as long as it did.”

“I told you exactly where I stand,” Romney said. “My view is that there’s no discrimination in the eyes of God. And I could not have been more pleased than to see the change that occurred.”

During Romney’s first appearance ever on “Meet the Press” he also discussed his changed views on abortion, his stance on immigration (illegal immigrants should “go home eventually”) and defended against charges of flip-flopping.

Rivals pounced on his assertion that a fee — some of which were raised when he was Massachusetts governor — is “different than a tax.”

“These were not broad-based fees,” Romney said. “If they are broad-based, they have a sense — a feeling like a tax. A fee is different than a tax in that it is for a purpose. We had fees that hadn’t been changed for decades.”

Romney said former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has passed him in many polls in the GOP presidential race, should apologize for his statement in Foreign Affairs magazine that the Bush administration has an “arrogant bunker mentality.”

“That’s an insult to the president, and Mike Huckabee should apologize to the president,” Romney said.

As to whether he will beat Huckabee in Iowa, Romney replied: “I sure hope so — working hard.”

The conservative Romney of the campaign trail was dogged by the more moderate actions of Governor Romney and liberal statements of Senate-candidate Romney. Russert hammered him with videotapes showing a string of reversals and recalibrations, but Romney handled it coolly.

Asked if he could assure voters he would not flip back to positions he held in Massachusetts, Romney replied: “Of course.”

“Tim, if you’re looking for someone who’s never changed any position on any policy, then I’m not your guy,” Romney said. “I do learn from experience. If you want someone who doesn’t learn from experience, who stubbornly takes a position on a particular act and says, ‘Well, I’m never changing my view based on what I’ve learned,’ that doesn’t make sense to me.”

Regarding his flip-flop on abortion rights from the time he was running for office in Massachusetts, Romney said he thinks “almost everyone in this nation” opposes abortion.

“I was always personally opposed to abortion, as I think almost everyone in this nation is,” he said, adding that the question for him was “the role of government.”

Romney said he hopes the U.S. ultimately bans abortion but says the country is not to that point and he is not advocating that.